1. Koko the Gorilla loved him. Most people have heard of Koko, the Stanford-educated gorilla who could speak about 1000 words in American Sign Language, and understand about 2000 in English. What most people don’t know, however, is that Koko was an avid Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fan. As Esquire reported, when Fred Rogers took a trip out to meet Koko for his show, not only did she immediately wrap her arms around him and make the sign for love, she embraced him, and did what she’d always seen him do onscreen. She unzipped his cardigan and then bent over and took off his shoe.

2. He Made Thieves Think Twice. According to a TV Guide piece, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When Rogers filed a police report the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town. Amazingly, within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, and with an apology on the dashboard that read, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”

3. He Watched His Figure to the Pound. Rogers’ daily routine was waking up at 5. Praying for a few hours for all of his friends and family. Studying. Writing (would kill to get ahold of said material). Making calls and reaching out to every fan who took the time to write him. Going for a morning swim. Getting on a scale then really starting his day. Writer Tom Junod explained that Mr. Rogers weighed in at exactly 143 pounds every day for the last 30 years of his life. Rogers didn’t smoke, drink, or eat the flesh of any animals, and was extremely disciplined in his daily routine. And while I’m not sure if any of that was because he’d mostly grown up a chubby, single child, Junod points out that Rogers found beauty in the number 143. According to Junod, “Rogers came to see that number as a gift,” because, “the number 143 means ‘I love you.’ It takes one letter to say ‘I’ and four letters to say ‘love’ and three letters to say ‘you.’ One hundred and forty-three.”

4. He Saved Both Public Television and the VCR. Strange but true. When the government wanted to cut Public Television funds in 1969, the relatively unknown Mister Rogers went to Washington. Almost straight out of a Capra film, his 5-6 minute testimony on how TV had the potential to give kids hope and create more productive citizens was so simple but passionate that even the most gruff politicians were charmed. While the budget should have been cut, the funding instead jumped from $9 to $22 million. Rogers also spoke to Congress, and swayed senators into voting to allow VCR’s to record television shows from the home. It was a cantankerous debate at the time, but his argument was that recording a program like his allowed working parents to sit down with their children and watch shows as a family. Can I now say, “Suck it Lars Ulrich?”

5. He Might Have Been the Most Tolerant American Ever. Mister Rogers seems to have been almost exactly the same off screen as he was on screen. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, and a man of tremendous faith, Mister Rogers preached tolerance first. Whenever he was asked to castigate non-Christians or gays for their differing beliefs, he instead faced them and said, with sincerity, “God loves you just the way you are.” Often this provoked ire from fundamentalists.

6. He Was Genuinely Curious about Others. Mister Rogers was known as one of the toughest interviews because he’d often befriend reporters, asking them tons of questions, taking pictures of them, compiling an album for them at the end of their time together, and calling them after to check in on them and hear about their families. He wasn’t concerned with himself and genuinely loved hearing the life stories of others. Amazingly it wasn’t just with reporters. Once, on a fancy trip up to a PBS exec’s house, he heard the limo driver was going to wait outside for 2 hours, so he insisted the driver come in and join them (which flustered the host). On the way home, Rogers sat up front, and when he learned that they were passing the driver’s home on the way, he asked to stop in and meet the driver’s family. According to the driver, it was one of the best nights of his life. The house supposedly lit up when Rogers arrived, and he played jazz piano and bantered with them late into the night. And like with the reporters, Rogers sent him notes and kept in touch for the rest of his life.

7. He was Color-blind. He couldn’t see the color blue. As were his parents who took in a black foster child when Rogers was growing up.

8. He Could Make a Subway Car full of Strangers Sing. Once while rushing to a New York meeting, there were no cabs available, so Rogers and one of his colleagues hopped on the subway. Esquire reported that the car was filled with people, and they assumed they wouldn’t be noticed. But when the crowd spotted Rogers they all simultaneously burst into song, chanting “It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.” It is said the result made Rogers smile wide.

A few other things:

9. He got into TV because he hated TV. The first time he turned one on he saw people angrily throwing pies in each other’s faces. He immediately vowed to use the medium for better. Over the years he covered topics as varied as why kids shouldn’t be scared of a haircut or the bathroom drain to divorce and war.

10. He was an Ivy League Dropout. Rogers moved from Dartmouth to Rollins College to pursue his studies in music.

11. He composed all the songs on the show, and over 200 tunes.

12. He was a perfectionist, and disliked ad libbing. He felt he owed it to children to make sure every word on his show was thought out.

13. Michael Keaton got his start on the show as an assistant, helping puppeteer and operate the trolley.

14. Several characters on the show were named for his family. Queen Sara was named after Rogers’ wife, and the postman Mr. McFeely was named for his maternal grandfather who always talked to him like an adult and reminded young Fred that he made every day special just by being himself. Sound familiar? It was the same way Mister Rogers closed every show.

15. 15.Every one of the cardigans he wore on the show had been hand-knit by his mother.
    
    

I’m just in tears now. All this info was stolen from another site. A lot of sites. I don’t care what sites who. I just really love Fred Rogers. And the best neighbor award goes to...Javier Bardem. You come home baby I like ya like I should.